Contact the Corona virus statement Wrong!

Well, now that the corona virus also known as COVID 19 is here with us the expression ‘contact the corona virus’ has become common place. Even the experts, the medical doctors or physicians in trying to interpret the ailment that has taken the world by surprise justify the ‘contact the corona virus statement’ to warn the public about the consequences of gathering in large crowd as the disease is not only airborne but can also be ‘contracted’ by mere touch or body contact. Be on the alerts! Medical experts have warned. Ever since the government rolled out precautionary measures to check the spread of COVID 19 that has done much havoc in European countries aside from China where the virus originated, ‘contact the corona virus’ phrase, though wrongly used, appears to dominate the headlines and discourse about the nature of the deadly ailment and how fast it is spreading around the world. What bothers the masters and purists of the language however, is the abuse or misuse of the expression even by some of the medical personnel confusing the noun ‘contract’ to catch a disease with the noun ‘contact’ to reach out, the state of communicating or meeting, establish a relationship with someone, the Oxford dictionary of current English explains. For the COVID 19, just as any other infectious or communicable diseases the right phrase to caution one to avoid catching it is ‘contract’ and not ‘contact’ as many would speak. One can then correctly write ‘The corona virus is contagious, keep a reasonable distance from any one you suspect may have contracted the virus’ or better still ‘One may contract the disease in a crowded environment such as the stadium during football match or at parties and other entertainment places where body contact cannot be avoided.’ Never write or speak ‘The corona virus is contagious, keep a reasonable distance from any one you suspect may have contacted the virus’ or still ‘ One may contact the disease in a crowded environment such as the stadium during football match or at parties and other entertainment places where body contact cannot be avoided.’ Now that you know, use the right expression when next you are tempted to talk about the killer virus which the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared as a global pandemic that has caused many deaths around the world in Europe and America in particular apart from China where the deadly virus was first reported. ‘Contract the disease’ is the correct statement and not ‘contact the disease’ phrase that several people talk about. Don’t just jump on the bandwagon of ‘contact the disease’ because others are doing so. Find out yourself and then follow the right course and be counted among those who understand the proper use of the language. We all know that the noun ‘key’ is interpreted by the Oxford dictionary of current English as a small piece of shaped metal which is inserted into a lock and turned to open or close it. It has since then taken the figurative form as a predicative adjective to emphasize something important. So, we can also talk of central importance-key to any task we want to carry out. The word ‘key,’ to put it mildly, is now treated as another frequently used piece of illiteracy by the English pragmatics. In other words, the figurative use of the word ‘key’ meaning vital, essential has been roundly abused so much that it has lost its value. It’s no longer fashionable in the English lexicon. When we speak for example ‘the matter is key’ in whatever direction we want to go, we sound rather repetitive like many other diabolical illiteracies that are bandied around, quoting one of the purists of the language saying. The question now is where do we go from here? Writers, journalists and reporters should of necessity look towards synonyms to find a better replacement for the overused and spent phrase ‘key.’ Some tips here though, as I noted before, we may choose to fall back on close relatives of the word ‘key’ such as ‘vital’ and ‘essential’ to relief it of the burden of overuse. One can simply write or speak ‘self isolation is vital or essential in checking the corona virus scourge from spreading across the world.’ That way we can put to rest the ‘key’ phrase.